"Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." — Laurie Buchanan

There are numerous types of boards—longboard, snowboard, keyboard, emory board, ironing board, diving board, cork board… But to my way of thinking, the most exciting is the vision board!

Unlimited in scope, a vision board can take you anywhere! From scorching sand-whipped desert plains, to pristine peaks on snowcapped mountains; from the pulsing heart of dense jungle foliage, to the uncharted depths of the deep blue sea.

Here’s a photograph of my husband’s vision board. As a pilot, Len’s dreams and goals revolve around aircraft: with propellers, without, single wing, bi-wing, tail dragger—you name it! If it flys or glides, he researches it, watches videos about it, and attends the annual EAA AirVenture Fly In in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Len’s vision board — click on image to enlarge

You’ve heard it said before, “What we think about, we bring about.” That’s the purpose of a vision board—a collection of graphics that help us keep our attention on our intention; graphics that clarify intent and trigger action steps that manifest thoughts into reality.

Did you notice that the right side of the board is empty? I temporarily cleared it of flying paraphernalia to make a point. I call this side Vision Bored. It represents a ho-hum attitude; a mindset that doesn’t carve out time to savor the juicy energy of anticipation.

I just recently put a list on my refrigerator to remind me of what’s most important, as I too often wander off into nurturing what is not. I’d forgotten about vision boards! Now I’m focussed on adding pictures to my list! Thank you!

In the early 80’s, following my relocation to Hawaii to do a 6 month long personal and spiritual development program, I was introduced to image boards. I was in search of a male playmate and so I placed images on my “treasure map” (that’s what we called them back then) to align with my intention of finding the man of my dreams. Every night before going to bed and each morning upon arising I focused my attention on the cute guy cutout. One evening while enjoying dinner out with a lady friend a man walked up to our table to say hello to her. She introduced us and by the end of the conversation we’d made a date to get together. He looked so familiar but I couldn’t place him. Later when I got home and looked at my image board I was astounded to see that I’d manifested the man in the picture. My treasure map/image board had facilitated me finding that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. . .from then on I was no longer bored. To this day I’m a big fan of both image board and image book making.

A vision board can be very useful but sometimes things work out differently than you might expect. Several years ago I decided the one thing in the universe that would make my day was working at this prestigious art museum. I found a photo of the museum taken from a vantage point of where I thought my office might be. I found another photo of a lady dressed in a business suit very similar to one in my closet and Photoshopped my head on it. To make a long story short, after a series of serendipitous events, I got an interview which went extremely well. On the drive home I started to get the heebie jeebies. I would be trapped once again in a situation similar to the corporate job I had just quit…. worse, I felt as though I would be highly supervised which would not fit my personality at all…. and any creativity would be non-existent. By the time I got home I was dreading receiving the call that I had my “dream” job and then I would have to make the decision. Well, as fate will have it, I did not get the job after all. I was tremendously relieved! Now I “work” at the museum anyway, but on my own terms, taking tour goers there and enjoying my freedom! And sometimes I do wear that suit only because I choose to.

Carol – As a regular reader of your blog, I think your vision board might well be the 3-demential grandeur right outside your lovely glass windows. Nature and your companion animals – you surround yourself with them. They provide you with the divine opportunity to BE.

I was introduced to vision boards through a job preparation program offered through the Canadian government. It was fun. But I’m a word person. Knowing this, my life coach encouraged me to write about my future. Where would I be in five years? Ten years? It’s been a year (or more) since I wrote my vision board and I still remember every word.

I wrote a story about my goal board that was just published in the most recent Chicken Soup for the Soul book, the 20th Anniversary Edition, Reader’s Choice, The Chicken Soup for the Soul Stories that Changed Your Lives. I did my first goal board when I was 17; I continue to cut out goal pictures. It is amazing what happens when we put our goals into pictures.

I remember learning that “bored” is a word that means you are a bit angry at yourself. I can recognize bored feelings coming up quickly and at the least I grab a book and read

When we moved into this house 20 years ago we found a notebook listing 100 things we wanted to accomplish in our marriage. In our 14 years we had completed all except diamond earring s. 36 yrs now and we are making a list of our retirement visions. Visioning boards are a part of my counseling practice. If they don’t comply. I know there will be struggle ahead.
Thanks for the good words

Patricia – My mom always said that “bored” was a choice and that if I didn’t like it, DO something about it. The key word being DO (action steps). I believe her words of wisdom had an influence in my tagline: “Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”

Part of my vision is empowerment of everyone to achieve whatever it is they responsibly choose.
Part of what I have learned in life is that there is no “right way”, there are an infinite class of paths that work for everyone, and a larger infinity of paths that don’t work.
And no one is perfectly prescient.
All any of us can do is make the best choice we can, based upon the information we have, and then dance with the consequences of our choices and everyone else’s.

Part of what I like is uncertainty and novelty. So I always have plenty of blank space, openings for possibilities beyond my ken.

So yes – I have visions, big visions that effect all of humanity, a vision of universal prosperity, of universal freedom, of universal responsibility. And I also enjoy going places I haven’t been before.

I’m not often bored.
Far too much to think about, too much to learn, to read, to watch, to try.

Laurie, I am definitely a vision board type person and the larger the board the better. In fact, I like driving across the Canadian prairies because I set ideas out on the horizon line then mix match, move, evaluate, refine and then pick them up hours later. This is my perfect most ideal size of a vision board :) But in my everyday, I live, breathe, dream and create my vision with my camera never far from my hand and my paint brushes just about as close.

Ah, Laurie in my profession it has now come down to the SMART BOARD, a state of the art teaching tool that for many educators has become more invaluable than the old-fashioned chalk board. Notes, diagrams, homeward assignments, and even a full length movie can be showcased on this latest of educational innovations, a teaching tool that has achieved astonishing success since it was instituted in many if not most classrooms today. Perfect for audio-visual lessons, I showed a sixth grade class the entire Kevin Sullivan Canadian mini-series of “Anne of Green Gables” and “Anne of Avonlea” last week, and you couldn’t hear a pin drop.

I love Len’s vision board, and in answer to your query, I’d like and hope to think that I’m a vision board person, but heck we all go over to the dark side once in a while. Ha!

I love the idea of a vision board…never heard of them before but how cool! I guess I would consider the equivalent to lie in my laptop or possibly my mobiles!! I think both would work very well as vision boards :) As to bored…what’s that? lol…never have time to get bored anymore thankfully!

usually I am a vision board…but as I unclutter more and more
I am bored…I think I have tipped the scales and need to go back
or maybe a different direction ….
your post is a good one for me today Laurie….I was thinking as I cleaned and mopped that
has to be more to life than this LOLs…
Thank you for always sharing that calm…quiet wisdom that makes me/us think …further into the conversation I am carrying on in my mind…
Take Care…
You Matter….
)0(
maryrose